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Groundwater/Transcript
Transcript Text reads: The Mysteries of Life with Tim and Moby A boy, Tim, and a robot, Moby, are at Yellowstone National Park. Tim is holding an fold-out map in his hands and examining it. TIM: Old Faithful was supposed to be over here someplace, but I can't seem to find it. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Did you find Old Faithful? You know, the geyser. Tim sighs. Tim reads from a typed letter. TIM: Dear Tim and Moby, I don't get what groundwater is. Can you explain it? From, Joshua. TIM: Explaining's what we're here for. Right, Moby? MOBY: Beep. Moby makes a thumbs-up gesture. TIM: OK. When water soaks into the earth, it becomes part of a system called groundwater. An animation shows rain falling on the ground. The water soaks deeply into the ground, as Tim describes. TIM: Soil is made of very tiny pieces of rock and organic debris. Weathered rock lies below the soil layer. An animation shows a thick layer of soil and the weathered rock that lies beneath it. TIM: Around the particles of soil and weathered rock are tiny spaces called pores, like the ones in a sponge. The soil is said to be permeable because water can seep through it and move through the groundwater system. An animation shows a close-up of the pores that Tim describes. Water flows through the pores, around the rock and soil. MOBY: Beep. Moby holds up a porous-looking rock. TIM: Well, rocks may look totally solid, but some rocks, like sandstone, are also permeable, with tiny pores all over. Groundwater moves through Earth's crust until it reaches a layer of impermeable rock. An animation shows rainwater soaking into the earth until it gathers on top of impermeable rock. TIM: Materials like clay have really tiny pores, so water can't move through it easily, if at all. Tim holds up a lump of clay. TIM: This makes it impermeable. When water hits the impermeable layer, it starts to well up and fill the pores of the permeable rock above. This area is known as the zone of saturation, and the top of that zone is called the water table. An animation illustrates the zone of saturation and water table that Tim describes. TIM: The surface level of a river or creek will show you the water table for a particular area. An animation shows the surface of a flowing creek, illustrating a water table. Moby pumps water from a well, using a hand pump. The water fills a glass that Moby is holding. TIM: Wells go deep into the zone of saturation so a pump can bring groundwater up to the surface. An image shows a well going deep into the ground until it reaches groundwater. TIM: Water that can be pumped up to the surface often comes from a pooled area of rock called an aquifer. An image shows an aquifer between the soil and impermeable rock. TIM: When the water table gets high enough to meet the earth's surface, water flows out and makes a cold freshwater spring. Moby watches a freshwater spring flowing from a large rock. He is smiling. TIM: Sometimes, groundwater is heated by hot rocks below Earth's surface and forms a hot spring. An animation shows holes in the ground with steam coming out of them. TIM: The park that we're in right now has both hot springs and geysers. A geyser is a hot spring that erupts every now and then, shooting hot water into the air. An animation shows a geyser erupting from one of the steamy holes in the ground. TIM: Hmm. I'd like to show you a geyser, because they're really cool, but I can't seem to find the one we're looking for. A geyser suddenly erupts from the ground between Tim and Moby. Both of them jump away from the water. MOBY: Beep. TIM: Yeah, close call.Category:BrainPOP Transcripts Category:BrainPOP Science Transcripts